"Oh, nothing, honey--he wanted to see you. He had calmed down and you won"t have nothing more to worry about, so you just rest and get well."
"I"m afraid you ladies will have to go now," said the nurse, as she came to the foot of the bed.
"I"ll be up later and see if I can do anything," said Evelyn, as she and Mickey rose to go.
"Come back as soon as they will let you," said Pearl.
"All right, honey, we"ll go and move your things now, and then we will be back later. Now, don"t you worry, honey, you just rest--good-bye," as they left the room.
"What did he have to say, Ev?" as they reached the street.
"Well, it ain"t so much what he said, but it"s the way he said it. I"m afraid he might kill her if he gets hold of her again. Of course, he is sorry and all that now, but the next time he gets mad at her, or catches her with somebody else, he will kill her as sure as there is a Heaven.
He said if he couldn"t have her, no one else could, and you know him, Mickey, he means business."
"You"re right there, Ev, that guy means business. Well, he can"t get at her there in the hospital."
"I"m not afraid of him doing anything to her there--he wants to make up with her now--it"s when he gets mad at her again that I"m afraid of, but I"m pretty sure she is off him now for good."
"Yeah--and it"s a shame. If she could only have cared for that guy, even a little bit, she would have been sitting pretty, but love is blind, so they claim, so she falls for Harry, and he also gets the h.e.l.l beat out of him. Well, it sure was some fight."
A week pa.s.sed, rather uneventful--the Mexican trouble was settled and the border opened again. Evelyn spent as much time as possible with Pearl, accompanied by Mickey. Harry had already left the hospital, and Pearl would be out in a few days. The rest had done her good, and she gained weight in those few days.
"Has Harry been to see you today?" asked Evelyn.
"Sure, he was over to see me this morning. He looks as good as ever, and he is so sweet. The nurse told me I could leave here in the morning--ain"t that good news?"
"I"m sure glad, but what are you going to do about Big Boy? You don"t know it, but he has d.a.m.n near driven me crazy--he is wild to see you--he knows Harry has been up here whenever he wants to come, and he is wild with jealousy."
"Well, it"s up to me to stay out of his way. He knows where you live, and he can come up there any time he wants to, so I"ll have to stay in a hotel so he can"t come up. Won"t you move in with me for a while, Ev?"
"Sure, kid, I"ll move in with you for a while. I know how you feel and I"m kinda tired of that apartment, anyhow. Let"s move to the McCoy, what do you say? I think you"ll like it."
"All right, Ev, you go pick out the room, so I will have some place to go to in the morning."
"I"ll go now, and do that before I go over on the other side of the river. Good-bye, honey, I"ll see you in the morning," as she rose to go.
Pearl left the hospital, and went to the hotel, where she found Evelyn in bed.
"I didn"t expect you to be out so soon, or I would have been down to meet you," said Evelyn, as she raised up in the bed.
"I didn"t know myself, but it"s grand to be out again and walk around--how is Juarez?"
"Just the same--I had a pretty good night last night. Mickey picked a live guy for me, and I got a hundred and ten bucks off him--that is, Mickey put her hand in his pocket and took it out and give it to me. She said I had earned the money by being with him. You know Mickey, and I just couldn"t refuse--money is money."
"See anything of Big Boy?"
"I was coming to that--I,--well, you will have to be awful careful, honey--that guy is on a drunk, and he is bad--he told me last night that the first time he sees you he is going to shoot you. I don"t think he was kidding, either--he means business. Then again he might just be bragging, because he was so drunk--but just the same, don"t you think it would be best to kinda keep out of sight for a few days?"
"Ah, gee, Ev, I wanted to go over tonight--couldn"t we go some place that he wouldn"t think to go, and that way we wouldn"t be likely to run into him. You must know of some place over there we can go and drink and have a good time?"
"Sure, I know the very place, and I don"t think you have ever been there. It"s one of the places that Grace Valdez owns--you remember the old girl I introduced you to--the one who owns the Gold Palace. Well, this is her best money-making place, so she says. It is a regular cabaret and bar, with about thirty or forty girls working there, and they have rooms upstairs--but lots of people go there--sure, we will go over there tonight--what do you say?"
"That"s fine--I"m just raring to go on a good one tonight--how about you?"
"I could start right now, as far as I"m concerned."
"I"ll tell you what let"s do--you get up, and let"s go shopping. I need some new things, anyhow--will you come?"
"Sure," answered Evelyn, as she climbed out of bed.
They spent the day shopping, and went to a show, then began to dress for the night over the border. As they were leaving the hotel they ran into Mickey.
"Well, it sure is good to see you out and around again Pearl--we sure have missed you."
"That"s nice of you, Mickey."
"Hey, look Mickey," said Evelyn. "We"re going to the popular bar tonight--you know, the one up that side street, off the Sixteenth of September Street there--you know where it is, don"t you?"
"Sure, I know where that joint is--that"s a good idea--keep out of sight of the Big Boy, especially till that louse gets over these fits of jealousy."
This was too late--Big Boy was standing across the street watching the three as they were talking about him, eyes almost closed, watching Pearl as a snake watches a bird.
As they moved down the street to catch the car for Juarez, Big Boy followed. He boarded the car with them, but stayed in the back, with his hat well over his face.
The night was beginning as they unloaded in Juarez.
"Oh, Jees----" said Evelyn, "don"t look, but there is Big Boy just getting off the rear of the car--let"s disappear p.r.o.nto." They ran up the block and into the darkness.
"Do you think he will suspect where we are going?" asked Pearl.
"I don"t think so. He will probably figure you will make right for Harry, and that"s where he will go, and wait for you," reasoned Mickey as they made their way on up the dimly lighted street to the Popular Bar.
As they neared the Popular sounds of a tinkling piano and drums, mixed with laughing and singing, came to them. The place was crowded with men who had not only come over for their satisfaction of liquor, but to satisfy their baser l.u.s.ts as well--and this was the perfect place of satisfaction of this sort. The girls were in short dresses, heavily made up, with cheap rouge and powder--they mixed with the men, hugging and kissing whomever put their arms around them, thinking only of the two dollars that could be made upstairs.
"Jees, what a joint," exclaimed Pearl.
"You said it," answered Evelyn.
"Yeah--but you got a chance of making some real money in this place--when these guys are hugging any broad in the place you can always get your hand in the pocket and he never knows just who to blame," said Mickey as she looked the place over for a prospect.
"Well, we might as well get to the bar and start sipping some of that joy water, don"t you think?" suggested Evelyn.
"Let"s get at it," as they shoved their way through the crowd.
"This place does the best business in town--at least it looks that way,"
said Pearl.
"Well, they can get rougher and noisier, and just anything goes, and this is some tough mob in here right now."